Vegan Milanos

Here I go, scaring off everyone in my first real post, but seriously, I love vegan baking. I don’t care if you’re an omnivore or a vegetarian (I DO eat meat), but I think that everyone should try vegan baking once. It just always turns out so nicely.

•In a large mixing bowl, mix together the soy milk, sugar, oil, vanilla, and zest.

•In another bowl, mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Add half to the first mixture; mix well. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until you have a soft dough.

•Roll 1 tablespoon’s worth of dough into a ball, and then flatten into a Milano-shaped oval.

•Continue with the rest of the dough until you have 16 cookies placed about 1 inch apart.

•Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the tops are firm and the edges are ever so slightly browned. Remove from the oven and let rest for 2 minutes. Use a thin, flexible spatula to transfer to a cooling rack. Meanwhile, bake your next batch and melt the chocolate chips.

•Once the cookies are cool enough to handle, or after about 10 minutes, spread some chocolate on the bottom of two cookies, and sandwich them together. Repeat.

•After sandwiching all of the cookies, place them in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Bring them back to room temperature before serving.

Makes 16 cookies

Notes:

These cookies are actually about twice as fat as real Milanos, so make them smaller or thinner if you’d like. You can also just dip single cookies into the chocolate.

The plain cookies (before sandwiching) are REALLY really good. They’re crispy and tender, like shortbread or sugar cookies. Also, they smell really good. But I guess you’ll find out for yourself, huh?